Hawk wins Whitehall dogfight

The long-awaited government decision to spend £1bn buying 30 more Hawk trainer aircraft for the RAF from BAE Systems will be confirmed this week after months of infighting within Whitehall as the Treasury sought to curb costs.

MPs are appalled that Britain's most successful military aircraft at present, and possibly the last to be built by the UK alone, might be passed over in favour of a jet from US group Lockheed Martin or the cheaper but untested Italian Aermacchi M346, which has not yet flown.

At stake is an important slice of hi-tech capability - the new Hawk would have flat screen computers replacing existing analogue dials - and up to 500 of BAE's 2,000 jobs in Brough, Yorkshire.

About 800 Hawks have been sold - some controversially to states such as Indonesia - in 19 countries. The RAF decision, expected in April, then in late June, has seen the other government departments at odds with the Treasury. Gordon Brown's number two, Paul Boateng - in charge of value-for-money drives - is in the firing line from MPs.

One Labour MP closely involved in decision-making said: "It is inconceivable that we won't buy the Hawk."

The Treasury is said not to have seriously wanted a foreign tender at a time when pressure is high to maintain national defence contracting but hoped to beat down an over-priced bid from BAE.

"The Treasury wanted the planes, it just didn't want to pay for them", said one Labour insider.

How much of the extra cost of the deal, expected to be agreed by Tony Blair before he flies to the US on Thursday, will be paid by the Treasury, and how much from existing MoD budgets remains to be seen.

Fewer aircraft may be bought and the timing of the order stretched.

The Hawk will be used to train RAF pilots for the Euro-Typhoon fighter and the F35.